Report: Gary Bettman Extended Through 2022

With the All-Star Weekend underway, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has reportedly had his contract extended through 2022, according to SI’s Michael Farber.

The 63-year-old commissioner declined to comment on the situation saying that he “never discusses his own situation.”

Bettman became commissioner of the league in December 1992, moving to the NHL from the NBA where he had been the league’s senior vice-president and general counsel. He’s had peaks and valleys in his tenure, seeing the league into three separate lockouts, but also helping the league’s profits to soar.

Part of those profits has been an expansion to 30 teams from 26, with the potential for another couple teams on the horizon. He’s also been at the helm as the league brought NHL players to the Olympics, started and reignited the World Cup and turned outdoor hockey into a major annual event.

The potential for another lockout in his tenure exists for the 2019-20 season, when the NHL and NHLPA have the option to opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement before the start of the season.

It was last reported that he was given a contract extension in March 2011, when he was extended five years. His salary remains an unknown, though it was reported previously that Bettman made $9.6 million in salary and bonuses during the 2013-14 season. (In that season there were only four players that made more than him at that figure.)

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